Following the meeting of July 15, 2020, the central bank and the financial watchdog may request financial institutions under their supervisory remit not to buy-back ordinary shares and not to create an obligation to pay variable remuneration to a member of a category of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on the financial institutions’ risk profile, which has the effect of reducing the quantity or quality of own funds at the consolidated and/or individual level, the Committee said in a press statement.
Also, the committee believes the agri-food trade balance has become a vulnerability that may pose a potential systemic risk for at least two reasons, namely, the strong relationship between the worsening of the current account deficit and the outbreak of a financial or balance-of-payments crisis, as well as the need to ensure food security, which is in fact one of the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
Ten key measures are recommended, such as: developing programmes, through close dialogue with representatives of relevant associations, to implement the European Union’s Farm to Fork Strategy and the Declaration of cooperation on “A smart and sustainable digital future for European agriculture and rural areas”; enhancing the role of credit guarantee funds and of the Romanian Counter-Guarantee Fund in supporting agriculture and food industry firms; revising the certificates-of-deposit mechanism; improving the legislation on certifying and promoting agri-food products; designing a strategy for promoting high-quality food items, also via an increased role of quality schemes; implementing an industrial policy for the food sector. A methodology is also proposed for identifying firms that could be viewed as potential agri-food national champions, while the regular dissemination of additional statistical data is recommended for agri-food firms’ improved access to finance, per the press statement.
The National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight includes representatives of the central bank, the financial watchdog and the government and is run by central bank governor Mugur Isarescu.